The streets of Lima were almost without public transport buses on Wednesday after drivers’ unions and dozens of food markets paralyzed their activities for the third time in a month to protest against the government for the increase in crime, especially extortions.
The paralysis caused the authorities to suspend in-person classes for almost two million schoolchildren, while more than 13,000 police officers took to the streets alongside soldiers. At several stops the military installed armored vehicles that they usually take out of the barracks on protest days.
Local television channels showed workers who live more than 20 kilometers from the center of this city of 10 million inhabitants waiting for buses at various stops. Cars were observed offering transportation for up to five dollars, a price that is up to five times the cost of the ticket.
More than two dozen food markets in the north of the capital did not serve customers and merchants, dressed in their aprons, banged pots. On the outskirts some posters said: “No to extortion, enough blood spilled.”
Katherine Gómez, representative of the markets, told the press that “the government is urging us to take to the streets, it seems that President Dina Boluarte believes that nothing happens when they are killing us.” In an area far from the center, the police removed Peruvian flags and beat protesters with their batons who insulted the officers by calling them “dogs.”
Protests have also been reported in other regions of the country including Piura, Junín and Arequipa.
Between 2021 and 2023, extortions have quintupled in Peru, according to official data. In September, three drivers were murdered in different events related to extortion and a bus was shot at more than 20 times in the capital.
Four weeks ago, during the first massive bus stoppage In Lima, the government declared an emergency for 60 days to combat crime in 14 of the 50 districts of the capital’s suburbs.
This emergency includes the limitation of constitutional guarantees such as free movement, freedom of assembly and the inviolability of the home, but to date the crimes have not been stopped.
a week ago a teacher was murdered by a man inside his school and in front of his students. Two weeks ago, a driver and three passengers were shot to death in a minibus in an urban area of the port of Callao. The police have not solved both murders.
President Boluarte pointed out on Tuesday to the Venezuelan migrants responsible for the increase in crime and said that they will supervise the remittances sent to Venezuela and will require work contracts and the rental of their homes.
He also indicated that a group of people who came “with a political agenda” wanted to join the paralysis in reference to a series of protests that demanded his resignation at the end of 2022 and the first months of 2023 that left dozens of dead.
Peruvian business associations recently said that The State is “losing the battle” against organized crimein an escalation that has forced the government to call in the military to help the police ensure security in Lima.
Extortions are not recent in Peru. They began to be reported more than two decades ago in the northern region of La Libertad against small businessmen, including those in public transportation whose units were set on fire on several occasions.
The criminal phenomenon reached the peripheral areas of Lima in recent years and in March the union of small food stores indicated that more than 13,000 establishments had been extorted in 2023 and that due to this more than 2,600 had closed.
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